Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Hanbalī—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī informed us; Muḥammad ibn Abī Naṣr, the ḥāfiẓ, informed us; Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd al-Nuʿmānī narrated to me, his hand resting on my shoulder; then Abū Saʿd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, the ḥāfiẓ, with his hand on my shoulder, informed us. He cited a report which I do not wish to transmit, for its text is invalid:

“Gabriel narrated to me, his hand upon my shoulder …,” and he went on to relate the ḥadīth, which is recorded in al-Ḥumaydī’s Tadhkira (1).

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad wrote to inform us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad informed us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī informed us in the year 532 AH, stating:

“I read before Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd in Egypt: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Aḥmad informed us; Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥāmilī narrated to us; al-ʿAbbās ibn Yazīd al-Baḥrānī narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said:

‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Do you know what the goodly tree is?”

I wanted to say, “It is the date-palm,” but when I looked around I realized I was the youngest among the people, so I kept silent. The Prophet ﷺ then said, “It is the date-palm.”’ (2)”

Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ṭayy and Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥātim at Baʿlabakk informed us; Sulaymān ibn Raḥma, the preacher, informed us; Hibat Allāh ibn ʿAlī informed us; Murshid ibn Yaḥyā al-Madanī informed us; Abū Isḥāq al-Ḥabbāl recited to us verbatim; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUmar informed us; Ismāʿīl ibn Yaʿqūb ibn al-Jirāb informed us; Ismāʿīl al-Qāḍī narrated to us, saying: